The Shadows of the Soul
by Joshiro.ukitake
Summary: (NOTE: this is a darker representation of involved characters) In the world of bleach, hell is the opposite to soul society. Two things that should not touch, when they do, the world of seritei changes, foreboding is in the air and the shadows of soul society come forward.
1. Jushiro Ukitake

**another bleach story, warning you right here and now, if you like your innocent views of included characters, this will probably ruin that image!**** It's built on their presumed past!**

**If you care not, then this piece is interesting to me, I wrote it one**

**day cause I was depressed and it made an awesome little idea so I built on it :) **

**bleach does not belong to me, just this story is mine**

**enjoy minna :) **

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><p>A few days prior the gates of hell had not only opened in soul society, something which was near impossible in itself, but the area around the gate became tainted and it slowly infected the soul societies sky. The sky grew dark and and then black ash fluttered gently from the sky, the gate was quickly dispersed however the sky stayed the same, the ash continued falling from the sky. No body was sure what this meant, but surely it wasn't a good sign.<p>

Since the sky's change, there had been multiple reports of the sky making people feel strange, rukia herself felt a little queasy and she had noticed her skin had turned pale, her hand in particular, and she had to wear a glove over her hand, her captain had retired a day earlier since he was also not feeling very well, the sky and ash didn't sit well with his lungs and ultimately made him ill so he decided to retire to ugendo to recover for a few days, or as long as necessary. Rukia had felt an un explainable nervousness when the captain had left, as if it was a bad thing that he was separating himself from his division, she could explain the feeling, it was almost a feeling of dread and it seemed to be worse when she thought about her captain, after a few days she hadn't heard anything from her captain and she had started to get worried and her worries were answered it seems when unohana taicho sent her a messenger with new medicine for her captain, rukia accepted the request. Odly enough as soon as she merely thought of going to see ukitake taicho, her insides crunched nervously and she almost felt sick, she was an odd sense of fear, she took a breath before heading to her captains home, hoping her feelings would change.

They didn't and by the time ugendo was in sight, fear had almost crippled her, she shook and jumped at every sound and touch. She couldn't understand her feelings as she admired the captain greatly. On closer inspection of ugendo, it seemed as though the normally peaceful building had been attacked, broken planks of wood and torn paper was littered on top of the water under the quiet house. Suddenly rukia realised she feared for the captain, had something happened? Was he ok, or even alive, was this the dread she sensed? She couldn't help but think it wasn't but she hoped it was and concentrated on that hope. She used it to force her body forward. By the time she had reached the captains door though, her body was still screaming to run, screaming that this place was not safe, she could barely breathe fighting panic. With the paper front door still shut, she could tell that someone or more to the point something was in that room, the wall on the other side of the room had been broken and light flooded into the room, where the captain should have been there was what looked like a monster outlined by the incoming light. She couldn't help but freeze and when she finally was able to stand and start backing away, the sick coughs of her captain sounded from the room, was he still in there with that monster, he sounded like he was dying. She once more couldn't move, her mind argued that it was her duty to help him if he was still truly there, yet she was terrified the monster in there would come after her. She clenched her fists and took a breath before gathering her strength and knocking timidly "t-taicho...?".

For a moment there was no sound but the shadow seemed to move weakly before the captains voice sounded weakly "yes Kuchiki-San..." He was definitly beyond sick, he was dying, rukia took a breath before letting herself into the room timidly. She regretted doing so immediately after what met her. The shadow was unmistakably her precious captain, but he was deathly white, black lines where his veins should have been lined his body, she could see through his torn clothes, on his back were a huge pair of black wings, spiked at the tips and slick, they looked strong and dangerous. His hands curled similar to claws and black nails as sharp as claws had replaced his once human features, he also had thick horns that had grown from his head and curved forward rather gracefully, jushiro shifted weakly to look at her revealing his pure black eyes, though he didn't looked threatening, he just looked tired and defeated, on his death bed, rukia screamed and collapsed with shock and fear, this was the reason she was so afraid, her body had known, she wanted to run, the captain, even as sick as he obviously was, still screamed danger. The captain looked away guiltily "you have my permission.. You can leave if you wish" he murmured weakly. Rukia looked at him shaking, she knew if she did that he would die, he knew that if she did, he would die, was he really willing to do that, did he not fear death, on closer inspection, he was surrounded by torn fabric and blood, a lot of blood, it was a wonder he was still alive. But she realised she had probably come in his last hours, it was obvious he only had hours, if that left.

It took a few minutes for her to adjust to the shock and she knew she wouldn't be able to just leave, she would blame herself for her captains death because she was too afraid. Jushiro avoided her eyes as even he knew they would destroy any strength that rukia may build to be able to leave, he panted weakly and struggled to stay awake though. Rukia finally took a breath to move closer "t-taicho... What d-do... You need..." He looked a little surprised though was too weak to react much "an emergency needle..." He motioned to his medicine cupboard weakly. At some point in time it had been partly destroyed and liquid leaked out of the closed door, rukia nodded and moved over to the cupboard reluctantly, flinching heavily everytime the captain moved. Opening the door revealed just how dire the situation was, most of the needles were shattered and glass was littered trough the saturated bandages and paperwork that remained there in the cupboard, with care she managed to find a lone surviving needle and cleaned it carefully. She had done this before but just the thought of getting too close to the captain terrified her. She quietly escaped to the captains kitchen to catch her breath and gain some sanity, it was still hard for her to believe her captain looked like such a monster.

After finding a bowl and cloth to help clean jushiro up, she once more slowly approached jushiro and put everything down beside him, she couldn't help but flinch still but she promised to herself that he was the same just he looked different, this helped her fear him a little less. He looked at her tiredly "your quite brave... Thank you Kuchiki-San" the eyes took her breath away, and not in a good way, they were oddly entrancing and when he looked away, rukia realised she was holding her breath, after steadying herself she reluctantly picked up the needle and found a vein before injecting it, The captain flinched but was silent. Rukia cleaned the new wound before reluctantly cleaning away the rest of the blood "t-taicho... What is this..." Jushiro looked a little thoughtful still obviously fighting sleep and pain "it's blood rain... It happens Extremly rarely..." He took a break panting. Rukia had never heard of it before and looked confused ""blood rain.." He nodded "the ash is from hell... It has the unique ability... to bring past horrors to life", rukia still didn't understand "past horrors...".he looked at her "I've lived a long life Kuchiki... Saved many people... Killed... Many people... Broke many rules.. And made many immoral choices... This is the consequences for that life... Even you have changed have you not..." Rukia looked shocked and looked at her gloved hand, the hand was which the hand she used to kill kaien all that time ago, rukia now understood jushiro's form, but it also made her a little more afraid, she knew that captains had to kill if ordered, but to look like this... She was almost too afraid to wonder just what kind of past her captain truly had.

Jushiro finally lost the fight to sleep and despite his unsteady condition, he managed to not fall further than sleep. Rukia decided to stay and clean up, despite her constant fear nagging at her to run, she started to wonder why unohana taicho wasn't here, or kyouraku for a fact, usually he didn't skip a beat either, had something happened to them as well.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm testing the waters a it with this one, I'm not sure how long this story will last, I find this story hard to write in an overly good mood so it comes a bit slow. I put great care in getting what I want to convey right though so if you like this story then I'm glad :) if you don't? Well... Then I guess you don't.. Not gonna force you too, read at your own leisure :)**

**bleach belongs to kubo tite, story below is mine**

**enjoy :)**

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><p>The last time the blood rain had come into seritei, it took five days to pass. At that time it took the majority of the older soul reapers out of work for that week for unenclosed reasons, people had determined the blood rain only really affected the older within seritei, shunsui was now over two thousand years old, as was his best friend, Yama-Jii was gone and unohana was also far into her life now, it seemed reasonable to think that this time, he would fall to the unexplained phenomenon. While shunsui had time he quickly researched what would happen now he had the power too, last time it had happened was when he was still at the academy, so he had only heard that most people were feeling "ill". Shunsui looked up to a knock on his door and closed the book he was reading "hai?" Nanao came in quietly "taicho, Kuchiki San reports that ukitake taicho is taking leave of illness, the ash isn't sitting well with his lungs". Shunsui nodded thoughtfully "thank you nana-chan, wonderful work like always" he sighed as worry settled into his gut, had his friend fallen already, he didn't even know what this was yet "ne... Nanao... If you start feeling strange tell me ok?" She looked a little worried "..hai... Do you think something will happen taicho..." Shunsui looked at her "I don't know... Say, if I say not to come to me... Will you oblige?" Nanao looked shocked "... Taicho.. What are you saying..." Shunsui shrugged it off deciding it was pointless asking such a question when he didn't even know what was happening "nevermind, just take care ok, I'd hate to see my nana-chan hurt" he smiled, Nanao frowned "I am perfectly capable to look after myself taicho..." She looked at her taicho for a moment before leaving quietly, his words had bothered her and she couldn't help worrying.<p>

Shunsui had found little to explain what happened back then, nor what might happen now apart from a few diary entires from past shinigami, they were afraid of something, one person said "I can't look at myself, what have I become, this monster... I can't deal With this...". The words put Shunsui on edge and he retired early for the evening. The captains quarters were in the deepest part of the first division, away from most of the other division, only the lt was relatively close to the captains quarters apart from the captains meeting room. There were a few guards but security was as lax as usual so no one bothered shunsui when he retired, he could drink and or sleep in peace. The words shunsui had read reverberated in his head and he couldn't help but worry about jushiro, he'd only heard the captains report that afternoon but dread had settled quite nicely in his stomach and he couldn't eat or sleep, he wondered if unohana was feeling anything by now. Ironically enough, the first of the ashen nights was a full moon,which lit the seritei with a grey, almost dying light, it was oddly beautiful, shunsui laid on his futon admiring the sight until he started feeling ill. Though once he noticed it, he realised that he felt warm, almost feverish, it was a chilly night but he had a high tolerance to illness usually and tonight was not nearly enough to make him ill. He got up and started to pace anxiously, he knew what he needed right now was rest but he couldn't, there was just way he could, he was becoming hot, Extremly hot, it was starting to hurt, the illness was replaced with lingering pain running all across his skin, his skin felt like it was cracking under the heat. After an hour of waiting for this thing to pass, shunsui couldn't walk anymore, the pain was too much, he'd been crippled, his head felt like it was splitting apart, his body felt like it was on fire, worse then any fight he'd been injured in, or any zanpaktou effect on him, even yama-jiis flame was a tickle compared to this. The worst though, were the faces, he couldn't see anything but the faces of those he'd killed in the past, he remebered them all and their various faces of pain, sadness and betrayal as he cut them with his blades. To shunsui this lasted what could have been years, when the screams and faces finally faded he thought it was over and he laid on the floor panting, tears falling relentlessly. The fire he felt like he was bathed in were nothing to his shattered emotional state until he felt like his whole being was being burnt to ashes, the pain only increasing when he realised actual cracks were appearing on his skin and they opened when he moved slightly, it seemed his body was truly burning, the cracks glowed like hot embers he felt like he would simply fall apart.

When shunsui woke up, his didn't remember why his body ached, why he felt feverishly hot, and he could barely find the strength to get up off the floor where he also didn't remember collapsing, this wasn't drink induced, he knew that much. Shunsui crawled over to his futon stiffly and laid down with a sigh before realising he had laid his head on Something hard like a stone, he found only his pillow when he sat up though and he was confused, his head hurt and he got dizzy if he turned too quickly. he put a hand on his head with a sigh only to realise he felt the same hard and smooth surface, he looked shocked and brought his hands up to realise whatever was on his head was stuck there and only one thing he could think of might feel this way... But it was impossible. He struggled to his feet this time and stumbled to the bathroom, he leant on the sink with closed eyes to try and recover from a dizzy spell and then suddenly remembered the ash rain, was that the cause of his condition, and if that was the case then he felt almost afraid to look at himself. He sighed before reluctantly opening his eyes to look at himself. He immediately looked shocked and a little afraid at his reflection. His eyes were naturally the first this he looked at in his reflection, they were black, pupiless and empty, his skin was pale and his skin was cracked and the cracks glowed like embers, his hair was ragged and large black horns had grown out of his forehead, curling back much like rams horns, they were cracked with red as well. He hadn't realised that at some point in the night, he had desperately torn at his robes to escape from the warmth his body now supplied. They hung off his shoulders in tattered strands showing his muscular body to also be cracked and flaming also. His hands hand changed into a more thin and demonic form, sharp and dangerous claw like nails had grown on his fingers. He could only stand and stare for a moment before sitting on the ground in shock.

Was this truly cased by the ash, it seemed impossible for such a huge change, did this wear off? Was this really what happened back then, why did this happen, the faces, the blood, was this all because of that? The lives he'd taken, the past he'd had, this was his true monstrous face, impure soul. Shunsui started to panic breathing heavy, he couldn't be seen like this, he scared himself let alone everyone around him would be terrified, he couldn't do that, but if he just dissapeared, would it be worse, could he just leave without a word. He suddenly heard a knock and someone come into his room, it echoed around the room as if mocking him "kyouraku taicho!?". Nanao had come in to wake him and stood in the centre of the room confused, usually he was here, his reatsu was still here, looking around she realised there was form fabric on the floor and the bed was slightly damaged, most of the damage was away from the bed though, she suddenly looked around worried "taicho?! Where are up, taicho?" She paced the room nervously before heading to the bathroom, shunsui froze to her voice and for the first time in a very long time was terrified to be caught, if she saw him like this, what would happen, he however couldn't move. Nanao paced quickly to the bathroom and looked for him. She was relieve for a second when she saw him and breathed a sigh of relief "kyouraku-taicho... You scared me... " shunsui flinched at the words refusing to look at her, he couldn't speak. Nanao walked over with worry dropping down beside him before realising how different he was and paused "taicho...?" He looked at her a little but it was enough to make Nanao realise it wasn't her captain, she fell back sliding backward in fear, she couldn't keep her eyes off him though. Shunsui jumped at her movement covering his face "I'm sorry.. Just go..". Nanao didn't take another moment to scramble to her feet and run from the room hurriedly shutting the door behind her before collapsing. She found herself in tears panting, leaning against the door in the hopes the monster didn't follow her, She heard nothing though but her ragged breath.

It took her a few minutes to calm enough to process what she had just seen. She sat against the wall and looked at the mess of fabric in the room she was in. The bathroom door stayed shut and the thing in there hadn't even attempted to leave. Nanao had had a bad feeling since yesterday evening but had ignored it, even walking in here was challenge and to find what she did, no one came in here other then her and the captain, so it had to be him in there, the things image was printed permanently in her mind and after thinking about it, there was no mistaking who it was supposed to be, but it was impossible for such a change to happen. She had been scared or terrified more accurately and reacted like that but even she could recognise that the thing... Or the captain had been just as afraid as herself. Deep down she felt like she betrayed her captain, as much as she god mad at the way he took most things as a joke, and how she hated that he hit on her a lot, she admired him, she would always be loyal to the foolish captain, because it was her duty. The thought of approaching him made her shiver and she questioned if she would even have the sanity to even do it, She was terrified of him. She argued with herself for minutes before finally talking herself into trying to approach him, after all, her captain was in rags, she couldn't leave him like that... He might start thinking it looked good. She smiled a little at that and used that small light to get up and find him a uniform, though she knew he wouldn't be working today, Treating him normally helped cope.

She finally stood at the door and hesitated at the door breathing heavily, starting to question her actions, she snapped herself into focus again before sliding the door open quickly as not to hesitate again and walked in and threw the clothes at him "you should change, geez... I always have to clean up after you taicho" her words got noticeably weaker by the end of the sentence, she flinched when shunsui did and looked up at her a little unsure and confused, still obviously upset, those eyes sent shivers through her very soul and she felt weak, he quickly looked away "h-hai..." Nanao looked away quickly and noticed her book sprawled on the floor, she focused on that quickly over dramatising it "geez, You made me drop all my papers too, no more drinks for a month now, I mean it!". Shunsui was shocked by her behaviour, she did see him, she was scared of him, she ran, but now, he didn't understand. Nanao straightened herself up sighing and looking as angry as possible "taicho!" When he still didn't move she gathered what remained of her courage to smack him on the head with her book "stop sitting there and feeling sorry for yourself, man up, your my taicho!" She walked out swiftly and left the quarters before collapsing with relief in the hallway, relieved that she was out of there and and away from her captain to breathe. Shunsui filched as she hit him and made his head hurt more but she had helped him regain his reason. He started by changing and avoided his reflection for the time being, he took some time to put away what damage last night has caused and sat quietly in his room. His uniform hid most of his changes only his eyes, face hands were really visible, though terrifying as they were, he found his hat and it managed to hide his horns mostly. He now understood just what the ash rain did that made it so terrible, it showed the face of all the deeds you had done in your life so far.


End file.
